Despite what you've been led to believe, Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella does have the capacity for subtlety. At least twice this season, when his club was teetering on the brink of collapse, Tortorella changed the narrative and changed the outlook.

When the Jackets were gripping their sticks during a four-game losing streak in early February, the directive was put forth to shoot first and ask questions later. The barrage of shots — highlighted by a whopping 158 in a three-game stretch from Feb. 10-14 — seemed to lighten the mental load on several players, leading to the early stages of a warming offense.

Later in February, Tortorella played a different card when it became clear to him that several of his players were melting under the lofty expectations created by their 2016-17 success, both as players and as a team.

Fifty wins. 108 points. 247 goals scored. A playoff berth clinched with 11 games left in the season. No way the Blue Jackets were going to get close to those numbers in 2017-18.

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